India, Aug. 19 -- Shreyas Royal was nine when his family found themselves at the centre of a visa crisis, with deportation from the UK a very real possibility.

Months later, the young Indian-origin chess prodigy, dressed in a dark suit, made the ceremonial first move at the 2018 World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana in London.

Chess had helped pull the family back from the brink. The then home secretary Sajid Javid intervened to allow the family to remain in the UK, describing Shreyas as "one of the most gifted chess players in his generation".

A week ago, aged 17, Shreyas, from Dartford, Kent, became the youngest-ever winner of the British Championship, breaking nine-time champion Michael Adams' 1989 reco...